JABLONSKI, MICHAEL JAMES
Name: Michael James Jablonski
Rank/Branch: E3/US Army
Unit: Company D, 3rd Battalion, 47th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division
Date of Birth: 20 October 1949
Home City of Record: Chicago IL
Date of Loss: 27 June 1969
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 101006N 1062825E (XS614246)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Boat (some lists say Ground)
Refno: 1462
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S.
Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families,
published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 1998.
REMARKS: DROWNED IN RIVER
SYNOPSIS: At 1650 hours on June 27, 1969, PFC Michael J. Jablonski's unit
was on a combat mission in Kien Hoa Province in the Delta region of South
Vietnam, and attempting to cross a stream 30 meters wide and 20 feet deep.
Jablonski reached the middle of the stream and could no longer hold on to
the single rope bridge. The swift current of the stream pulled him
downstream. Realizing that Jablonski was in trouble, one member of the
company untied the rope at the west bank and attempted to get the rope to
him, however, he had drifted too far downstream. Members of the company
watched him submerge completely under the ater twice and resurface twice. By
the time one menmber was able to swim to him, it was too late. Jablonski's
last known position was 150 meters downstream from the point of loss.
Extensive searches were conducted 300 meters downstream by men on the ground
and with 2 helicopters, but no sign of Jablonski was ever found.
War is hell. Men are killed by other men whom they call their enemy. But men
are also killed by "misadventure" - by senseless drowning, falls, and by
being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
At nineteen, Mike Jablonski had just begun to live.
Because no trace of Jablonski's remains were found, his name is maintained
among those who are missing and captured in Southeast Asia. Experts believe
that hundreds of these Americans are still alive, captive, and want to come
home. One can imagine that Jablonski would gladly serve on one more mission
to help bring them home.